Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude Modern folklore suggests that women look to a man's relationship with his mother to predict how they will treat other women in their lives. Hamlet is a good example of the way a son treats his mother and reflects the way he will treat the woman he loves because when you consider Hamlet's attitude and the treatment of Ophelia in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, it he must first consider how Hamlet treated his mother. A characteristic of Hamlet's personality is to make broad, sweeping generalizations and nowhere is this more evident than in the way he treats women. Very early in the play, while discussing her mother's transgressions, she comments, “Fragility, thy name is woman. (Hoy, 11).” Hamlet seems to believe that all women behave the same way as his mother. The first time the audience meets Hamlet, he is angry and upset at Queen Gertrude, his mother, for remarrying his uncle so soon after his father's death. In his first soliloquy he comments on the speed of his new marriage. Within a month, before the salt of the most unjust tears had even left the redness in her irritated eyes, she was married. Oh, wicked speed, to dispatch with such dexterity on incestuous sheets! It is not, nor can it come to fruition. (Hoy, 11) It is understandable that Hamlet is angry at his mother for forgetting his father and marrying his uncle Claudius. In Hamlet's eyes, his father deserves more than a month of mourning, and by remarrying so quickly, the queen has tarnished King Hamlet's memory. This remarriage is a sin and is illegal, however special dispensation was granted because she is queen. Hamlet's opinion of his mother worsens as the play progresses because his father, who appears as a ghost, tells him of his mother's adulterous behavior and his uncle's cunning and unconscionable murder. Although Hamlet promises to take revenge on King Claudius for killing his father, he is initially more concerned by the ghost's revelations about his mother. King Hamlet tells Hamlet not to worry about his mother but, after the apparition leaves, it is the first thing Hamlet talks about. Before vowing to avenge his father's death, he comments on the sins his mother committed. Although Hamlet decides to pretend to be mad in order to plot against the king, it is clear that he actually goes mad. His madness seems to amplify his anger towards his mother. During the game scene, he openly embarrasses her and acts terrible towards her in the closet scene. The closet scene explains a lot